Our Histories
Our histories are what make us. They define us. Just as the rivers carve our canyons and winds shape mountains, the oceans we inhabit are fed by countless tributaries stretching backwards through time. If we were to find poison in the Gulf of Mexico (and certainly that’s not too hard) we would search back through the streams that led there and find from where it came. If we find that there is poison in the ocean of our now we have to ask where it came from. So we look back through the threads of time and find the cause - the disease, hate, or shame. Familial patterns or social prejudices. Ignoring our histories, glossing them over, trying to forget - it doesn’t help anything. Erasing the parts we don’t like doesn’t change them.
Highlighting the parts that support the person with the highlighter as the victor, maketh not a victor.
Underpainting
I've sort of given up on the idea of 'the underpainting.'
It does a disservice to the painting process when the beginning of the painting is simply referred to as an underpainting as if the real serious painting will start later.